First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2017)

Mark, within a brief five verses, uses the injunction “watch” three times.
Watch means that we are called to be alert, to wake up…and smell the
incense.

Remember Jesus’ words: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day
your Lord is coming.” [MT 24:42] Remember Jesus’ words when he took Peter,
James, and John to Gethsemane on the night before he died? “Remain here and
watch with me.” Remember Jesus’ words to Peter when he returned from that
prayer: “Could you not watch for even an hour?”

Today I would like to reflect on how to watch. I am going to talk about a
topic rarely mentioned: hope, as in faith, hope and love.

I find that Christian hope is best defined as “being open to surprise,” a
definition provided by the Benedictine brother, David Steindl-Rast. Hope is
a virtue that can exist only when supported like a hammock at its two ends:
faith in Abba at the one end and Abba’s unconditional love for us at the
other. If you trust God and bask in God’s love, you can be open to surprise
in life: hope.

We can be open to surprises that will come our way. Hope is not optimism
sprinkled with holy water, as some would have it. Hope is often
misunderstood and mistaken for hopes - with an “s”. A proportion with faith
may be helpful. Faith is to the beliefs that we hold as hope is to hopes
that we have. That is, just as saving-faith, trust, is the important
underpinning to creedal-faith / beliefs [“I believe in one God, etc.}, so
hope, openness to surprise, is the important underpinning for hopes we
have. Both beliefs and hopes are distracting look-alikes for faith and
hope.

Examples of hopes would be: that our team will win, that everyone will be
healthy, that everyone in the family will get along. Hopes are always the
direct object of a sentence that begins: “I hope that…” The common
denominator for hopes is something I can imagine. Hope is far more profound
than hopes

So, what is the relationship of hope to hopes? Question: when our hopes are
shattered, what is left? Answer: hope! If a person has hopes without hope
underpinning his hopes - and then has his hopes shattered, the person is
shattered.

Hope is the seedbed of hopes; when one’s hopes are shattered, a new crop of
hopes will spring up overnight, expressed, for example, “Wait ‘til next
year.”

Dag Hamersjold said it so well about two important virtues, gratitude and
hope: “For all that has been, thanks, lord, thanks [gratitude]; for all
that will be, yes, lord, yes.” [Hope – openness to surprise].

Advent is the season for becoming more aware of hope and practicing hope, a
season to arouse our watchfulness for the surprises that we experience
daily, so that hope becomes an active attitude, like faith (trust), and
unconditional love. Hope, with practice, can become as natural as
breathing.

How do we “practice”? Faith in God or in another is deepened by trusting,
isn’t it? Love for god or for another is deepened by loving, isn’t it?
Being open . . . To surprise deepens hope in God or in another.

Hope provides a wonderful, God-given coping dynamic: in practical terms: we
say, “Yes, lord, yes” before we say, “Oh, no.” This is key! Remember, hope
can happen only when supported by faith and by love. It does not stand on
its own. It has the needed support of faith and love.

We can learn something about hope from its opposite; the opposite of hope
is not hopelessness, for hope thrives on hopelessness; the opposite of hope
is despair - being shattered. Despair comes from giving God or another an
ultimatum: “I’ve got it all figured out; there is no other solution than
mine.” No possibilities for surprise.

We believe the Lord Jesus has already come; the kingdom of God is already
in our midst! We also believe that the Lord will come again. There is
tension in this notion of the “already, and the not yet.” In the now, the
in-between time, God’s enduring grace and unending presence is always with
us.

Advent reminds us that we need to be aware of this and to be open to the
God of unimaginable surprises - in hope.